


You're My Freak

by tptigger



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Sisters, learning to use superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 00:29:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5436683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four times that Kara using her powers nearly gave Alex a heart attack and the one time Alex asked her to use them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/gifts).



> Many thanks to my beta to be revealed in 2016.

Kara sat, staring out the window. Eliza and Jeremiah were at work, and Alex was due home from school soon--her last day of school until the fall.

Kal-El--Clark, his Earth name was Clark--had said the timing of her arrival was fortunate because she would have the summer to adjust to Earth culture before she had to go to school in the fall.

She'd spent some time practicing reading English with the same flash cards that Alex had used years before. Spoken language was much easier to learn, and she had spent some time watching TV. The news channels were boring at best, she lacked some references (and Clark had been little help--he'd been too young to learn language when he was sent away, and was therefore a native English speaker), and so many of the news stories were so violent!

She liked Sesame Street the best. It explained English words, letters, and numbers. Also Big Bird was cute (though all the birds in the Danvers property were much smaller). A lot of the fictional stuff was hard to understand: some of it took place hundreds of years in the past or the future. Some of it, if Kara understood it correctly, was just plain dumb.

A large yellow vehicle--a school bus, Alex had said that morning just before she left--pulled up near the end of the driveway, in the street. Alex appeared, crossed the street, and walked up the driveway to the house.

The door swung open. "Hey, Kara, I'm home!" Alex called.

"I'm here," Kara said.

Alex grinned at her. "I was wondering, have you tried apples yet?"

Kara shook her head.

"Are you hungry?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Come on then." Alex led Kara into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and fished out two red, round fruits that were mottled with green spots. "Here you go." She handed one to Kara.

"Don't we need plates or forks?" Kara asked.

"Nope, you just munch on them, like this." Alex took a big bite of her apple, and chewed.

Kara did likewise, sweet juice spilling over her tongue. 

"Delicious," she said, after she swallowed.

"It's a Fuji, actually."

Kara blinked. "What?"

"Oh, sorry, dumb joke. Apples come in different varieties: Golden delicious are yellow, Granny Smiths are green, Red Delicious are kind of bland, and some varieties, like this one, are sweet. It's called a Fuji."

"Oh, I get it now," Kara said. "How was school?"

"Boring," Alex replied. "Finals were pretty much over so the teachers were all wasting time and collecting books. I've been sitting all day and I'm sick of it. Want to toss the frisbee for awhile?"

"You'll have to show me how."

Alex beamed. "Sure."

Kara took another big bite.

"Careful, don't eat the core or the seeds," Alex warned.

* * *

They went into the backyard with a flat, blue plastic disc with small, white ridges over the surface in haphazard patterns--scratches.

"OK," Alex said, taking the disc up and positioning her hand. "Let me show you how to hold it."

"Can I watch you throw it first?" Kara asked.

"Sure." Alex moved as she talked, showing Kara what she meant in slow motion. "I bend at the elbow, bring my hand in to my chest, point my right foot in the direction I want the disc to go, and bend my wrist in. Then I extend my arm and flick my wrist, letting go when my index finger is pointed where I want the disc to go." She demonstrated, the disc leaving her hand and spinning in a straight line bumping harmlessly into a tree on the edge of the property.

Kara clapped as Alex went to retrieve the disc. She jogged back. "OK, so you want to hold it like this." She showed Kara her grip on the frisbee. "Thumb goes on top, then you make a V with your index finger and your middle finger to support it."

Kara took the frisbee, moving awkwardly.

"A little further apart," Alex said, gently pushing on Kara's middle finger.

Kara moved it, then tried to mimic the stance Alex had taken earlier.

"Feet hip-width apart," Alex said.

"Hip-width?" Kara echoed.

Alex tapped her side. "There are your hips. Feet apart about under them, right foot towards the tree."

"Towards the tree?"

"Yes, aim for the tree," Alex said. "Why don't you practice the arm movement once without throwing it?"

Kara did so.

"OK, perfect, now throw it hard," Alex said.

Kara brought her arm out, then extended it with all her might. The frisbee sailed straight into the tree, burying itself partway into the trunk, and then shattered.

Kara blushed. "How did I do that?"

"I think your powers might be kicking in." Alex's voice shook. "It's OK, it's an old frisbee." Her fists were clenched, knuckles turning white.

The tree creaked, then fell over.

"Great Rao!" Kara's heart started pounding. 

Alex made a strangled noise; Kara glanced over and could practically see the blood leaving her face.

"I hear a car," Kara said.

Sure enough, Jeremiah's car pulled into the driveway, roaring to a stop inside the garage.

He got out, backpack over his shoulder. "Hey, girls, how were your days?"

Alex ran to him, grabbing him in a hug. "I'm sorry about the tree!"

"What tree..." Jeremiah looked up. "OK, it's an old tree, it needed to come down anyway, but I want to know how you did that with... is that plastic?"

"I... broke the tree with the frisbee?" Kara's cheeks were growing hot.

"It was freaky," Alex whispered.

Kara shouldn't have been able to hear her, why had she? "I didn't mean to it just... happened."

"You're going to have to be careful for awhile," Jeremiah said. "Your powers are kicking in and you don't know your own strength."

"I'm so sorry," Kara said, trying to hold back the tears.

"No one was hurt, and no one outside of the family saw, and the only damage you did probably saved me some money on having that tree chopped down, so we'll call it a cheap lesson; just be more careful in future, all right?"

"OK, promise," Kara said.

Alex finally let go of her father. "Sorry, Kara, I shouldn't have had you aim for the tree."

"How would you know?" Kara asked, tears still filling her eyes.

"Come here, Kara," Jeremiah said, holding his arms open invitingly.

Kara came to him, relaxing into the hug while Alex awkwardly patted her back.

She was definitely going to be more careful from now on.


	2. Marshmallows

Kara and Alex were hanging out in the backyard on a cool, summer night, watching the fireflies dance over the lawn. They had run around the lawn catching them until it was too dark to see them if they weren't lit up, and then retreated to the porch with a bag of marshmallows between them.

"We'll have to roast them sometime," Alex said.

"The fireflies?" Kara asked, scandalized. "They're too little."

"No, not the fireflies, the marshmallows."

"These are raw?" Kara asked. "Also, I thought roast was a big piece of meat."

"It can be meat," Alex said. "It's more of a cooking technique. These days, we put the meat in the oven, but it used to be cooked over an open flame. So for marshmallows, and some people call it toasting, you put them on a stick and then hold them over a campfire to heat them up. They get all warm and gooey inside and golden brown on the outside."

Kara's eyes lit up, she grabbed a marshmallow out of the bag and darted into the backyard. A minute's searching yielded a stick. She jammed the marshmallow onto the end of it and squinted at it. Blue beams shot out of her eyes, and the marshmallow burst into flames, rapidly followed by the stick. Instinctively, Kara dropped the burning objects onto the grass.

"Oh my G-d," Alex exclaimed. 

Kara heard the back door slam as tendrils of flame started to surround the burning marshmallow. The grass was catching fire. Kara took a deep breath, using her freeze breath to put out the fire.

"Good thinking," Alex said from the porch. She was holding a red cylinder with some kind of nozzle on the top.

"What's that?" Kara asked.

"A fire extinguisher," Alex said. "It sprays things to put out fires."

"Like my freeze breath?" Kara asked.

"Yes, exactly like your freeze breath." Alex set the fire extinguisher on the porch, striding over to Kara. "Maybe we should always have this handy when you use your heat vision for awhile, just in case your freeze breath isn't enough." She reached for Kara. "Let me see your hand."

Kara held out her left hand.

"No, you freak, the right one that was holding the burning stick."

"I'm OK," Kara said, trying to not frown at being called a freak. "I'm invulnerable, remember."

"I'm not," Alex said. "Neither is the lawn, the house, or the trees. I think taking out one tree is enough of a learning curve, don't you?"

Kara's cheeks grew hot. "Oops."

"At least we don't have any neighbors close enough to see what all the fuss was about."

Kara nodded.

"You need to be more careful," Alex said.

"I'm not going to get any better if I don't practice."

"Maybe you should talk to your cousin before you try that again," Alex said. "Also, maybe practice somewhere with fewer flammable things around."

Kara nodded hanging her head.

"Why don't we get some barbecue forks and I can light the grill and teach you how to toast marshmallows properly."

Kara brightened. "OK!"


	3. Chapter 3

Kara was bored out of her mind. She was at an end of summer barbecue with Alex's friends.

It had all been Jeremiah and Eliza's idea. They thought it would be good for her to get out into the world more before school started, to sort of ease her into the social aspects of life on Earth.

In theory, Kara was on board with this. In practice, however, what this meant was she was sitting at a picnic table in a pavilion--out of the sun--with Alex and her high school friends Kara would be starting eighth grade, and had been told, on no uncertain terms, that this made her inferior. They were talking about people that Kara didn't know: she was pretty sure a couple of them might have been actors, and others being discussed sounded like classmates that weren't present.

Unfortunately, any of the pop culture they had been discussing was not what she'd been introduced to so far. Jeremiah had insisted they start with Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who, all of which were very interesting, but no one was talking about them.

Kara had spent longer than she could possibly bear (though her watch told her it was only about an hour) listening to Alex and her friends prattle on about people she didn't know and Alex had begged her not to ask about things she didn't understand until later, so that she, and Kara was pretty sure this was actually Alex, not Kara, wouldn't be labeled a freak.

Whatever was going on with the conversation, Alex was pretty engrossed in it, so Kara just quietly slid out from under the table part, left the bench, and wandered away from the shouts of screaming children to explore the park.

She crested the hill to find small children sitting on rubber U's suspended by chains from a black cross piece of wood, with two supports on either end. They were kicking with their legs, and swinging back and forth, like a double-suspended pendulum.

It looked like fun. A few feet away was a wooden structure with a net connecting a high platform and the ground, which was attached to several turrets made of wood that led to a long, smooth piece of metal.

A young boy wearing a Superman t-shirt (Kara wondered, absently, if she could find one of those in her size) raced up the net, through the turrets, and sat on the metal chute, sliding down to the ground.

That looked like fun, but Kara figured it was a little small for her--and she was probably a little old--she didn't care, but Alex would.

"Mew."

The sound, to her left and possibly emanating from a copse of trees, caused her to jump. What was that?

She followed the sound into the trees, looking around. The copse was empty, though hidden from view of the playground. It was very peaceful. But that sound was so plaintive...

"Mew," it came again.

Kara looked up to see a white, furry creature with whiskers emitting from its pink nose staring out from the leaves of a high branch of the tree. It got up on four paws, then seemed immediately think better of it and hugged into the branch again. "Mew."

"Are you stuck?"

"Mew!" The sound was louder and higher pitched. The creature was getting more frightened.

Kara looked around, it took effort to see anyone around the trees. She stepped in close, using the tree to block her from any prying eyes on the playground as much as possible.

"Mew."

"I'm coming," Kara said, softly. She gently floated up to the branch, grabbing the creature in the middle of its body and tried to settle it against her chest. She started floating downwards and the creature wriggled, claws emitting from its paws and going towards her arms.

"Hey, watch it!" she said, possibly a little louder than she should have when trying to fly on the sly.

She landed and bent to place the creature on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked. "The kitten didn't scratch you did it?"

"Oh, is that a kitten?" Kara straightened up. "I'm fine."

Alex walked up to her and smacked her upside the head. "You idiot! What if someone saw you!"

"Through that big tree?" Kara asked. "Only if they have x-ray vision. Did you come all the way here to tell me off? Is your superpower knowing when I'm using mine?"

"Yes, and don't you forget it," Alex said, but her tone was light. "Mary and her little sister Adelaide are here, you and Addie will be at the same school."

"Is she in my class?"

"No, she's a sixth grader," Alex said, "but really, you're the same age. She wants to meet you, and Mary's hoping you can keep her busy and out of our hair."

Kara sighed. That didn't sound promising.

"If you make nice, I won't tell Mom and Dad about your little flying indiscretion."

"Deal," Kara said, following Alex back towards the pavilion.

She wondered if sixth grade was young enough to play on the playground, and therefore she could use it as an excuse.


	4. Chapter 4

The only thing that sounded harder than fitting in at school so far was fitting in at the annual Danvers Christmas party. 

Three days before, everyone started giving her rules.

"Don't ask too many questions at the Christmas party," Alex said when they were washing the dishes. "You'll look like a freak."

She practiced reading with Jeremiah after dinner--she was learning to read English very fast, but her teachers had asked her foster parents to read with her.

"It's good that you wish everyone Happy Holidays, Kara," Jeremiah said that evening. "But my Uncle Dave is very old fashioned. It's important to wish him a Merry Christmas, OK?"

Two days before, Eliza gave her a crash course in table manners. "You use the forks from the outside in, same with the dinner knives and the spoons. I don't think Jeremiah's mother will go as far as setting the dessert utensils out with dinner, but if she does, they're the ones on top of the plates, all right?"

Kara spent a lot of time on Google. Everyone seemed to know about Christmas but her, and a lot things were contradictory. The Internet basically taught her that yes, things were contradictory.

Which lead her to believe that it was OK to be confused.

"Don't ask too many questions," Alex reiterated as she and Kara headed to the car. "Great Uncle Dave is a conspiracy nut, if you ask too many weird questions, he might actually figure out that you're not from around here."

Kara frowned.

"He's not trustworthy, Kara. He'll call the FBI or someone." Alex climbed into the backseat of the car. "It won't be hard at a gathering like this, everyone knows about Christmas." She shut the door.

"I know about Christmas." Kara walked around to the other side of the car. "I watch TV, and I Googled it."

"I've always wondered what an outsider would think about all of this." Jeremiah opened the driver's side and climbed in. "Let's hear it."

Why had he waited until now to ask? The Christmas stuff had been in the stores since _Halloween_. Kara'd learned a lot.

"There's kind of two holidays." Kara climbed into the backseat of the car and buckled her seatbelt. "One is religious and also somewhat appropria--- what's the conjugate of 'appropriate' that makes it an adjective?"

Eliza climbed into the passenger side, grinning.

"Appropriative, I think." Jeremiah rolled his eyes at Alex, who was putting in her earbuds. "I understand what you're getting at, at any rate."

"The other half is the secular commercial holiday that pretends to be about the spirit of giving and good will towards men, but is really about businesses making as much money as possible by the end of the year and the concept of Santa Claus is downright scary." Kara shuddered.

Eliza laughed as she buckled herself in.

"He is pretend, right?" Kara asked. "Something to scare kids with into behaving during the holidays? I found sites saying he wasn't real, but I couldn't tell if everything else is just in on fooling the kids, or if those were a bunch of... what did you call them? Tin foil hat nut-jobs?"

Jeremiah laughed. "He is pretend, and yes, most of the world plays along so kids don't find that out until the parents are ready."

"Why are they called 'the holidays' when there's really only one?" Kara asked. "I mean, OK, there's Hanukkah too, but from what I can gather it's only a big deal in countries with Christian majorities."

"Because Christmas is close to New Years." Alex pushed something on her phone, set it on her knee, and turned her attention to the window.

"It's also an attempt to be inclusive." Jeremiah backed the car out of the driveway. "Christmas is a religious holiday, technically, and not everyone celebrates it."

"Wouldn't know that from TV," Kara said.

"That ties into the commercialism." Eliza shook her head.

"Among other things," Jeremiah added.

"Like what?" Kara asked.

Alex took out her headphones. "I want to hear, too."

"Might as well, Jeremiah, it's a long drive."

* * *

Kara was feeling uncomfortable. Dinner had gone just fine, but now they were playing Taboo, and Kara didn't know many of the clues that other people were having to answer. There were a lot of history and pop culture references outside of her experience.

Her stomach did a somersault when it was her turn to give Alex the clues. Her hands shook as she took out the first card. It read "Peter Pan."

"The story with the dog babysitter," Kara said.

"Peter Pan," Alex said instantly.

They'd spent three hours one night discussing the dog babysitter. That one was easy.

The next one read "Madonna." She showed the card to Jeremiah. "What's this?"

"Just go to the next card, honey."

Kara did, but "Moby Dick" didn't mean anything to her either.

The next card was "cat."

"You don't like me fishing them out of trees."

"Cat."

Whew.

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow at that one, but didn't say anything.

Emboldened, Kara took another card. "Winston Churchill." She frowned, putting it in the back of the box and reaching for another one.

"Time," Jeremiah's sister, Carol, said.

Kara sighed and sat down, hugging her knees to her chest.

Jeremiah wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "You did really well."

Alex didn't say anything, she was too busy glaring at Kara. It was probably because not knowing all of these things made Kara a freak.

* * *

All too soon, it was Alex's turn to give clues. Kara gulped, shifting uncomfortably.

One of Alex's cousins pointed at Kara. "You're going down. She sucks."

"Tony!" Carol admonished.

Kara glared at him, but not so much as Alex was glaring at him.

"Let's show him, Kara," Alex said through gritted teeth.

Kara knew that face. She'd better be able to figure this out.

"Just do your best girls," Eliza said. "It's only a game."

Yet Alex's eyes were like slits, and kept darting to her cousin. This was bad; Alex was clearly convinced that Tony thought Kara was a freak.

Kara took a deep breath, resisting the urge to squirm. People were like sharks, they could smell fear. Or was it blood?

The timer started.

"You said this chewed like bicycle tires."

"Calamari," Kara wrinkled her nose.

Whew, that was easy.

Alex frowned. "This gave you nightmares."

Kara wrinkled her nose. That could be a lot of things, mostly movies.

"A familiar.." Alex paused. The taboos were really driving her crazy. Or maybe she was trying to keep secrets. What might hit too close to home.

"Star Wars?" Kara guessed.

Alex frowned. "Can I skip if she doesn't know it?"

"No," Someone said.

"You thought it was Disney, but it wasn't."

"Anastasia."

"Yes!" Alex took another card. Her frown deepened. "OK, we're going the long way. In the comics, what's Agent Carter's first name?"

"Peggy."

"Not her nickname."

"Margaret."

"Roofs in middle ages," Alex said.

"Thatched?"

"Yup. Add on what you say when you're thinking."

"Um..."

"No... uh..." Alex bit her lip. She was trying to think of more clues. Kara could hear her heart thudding in her chest.

This was silly. Kara looked through to the back of the card with her x-ray vision.

"Margaret Thatcher."

Alex beamed, taking another card.

"We just started watching season 3."

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Alex frowned at the next one. "Um... Dad studies."

"Space."

"And if someone is evil and wants to come to your country they..."

"Illegally cross the border?" Kara asked.

"I think you need to dial down the NPR," Jeremiah joked.

Alex sighed, biting her lip more.

"Um," Kara read the card. "Invade?"

"A person who does that."

"Space Invaders?" Kara asked. (What was that?)

"Yes!" Alex pulled another card, and grinned. "You have pictures in your room of this famous person."

She didn't have any unless... oh! "Superman."

The buzzer sounded.

Alex smiled at her as she sat down.

"Beginner's luck," Tony sneered.

"Shut up, Tony, you're being a jerk," Alex said.

"That enough, kids," Carol said.

When the game was over, their overall score for round two wasn't enough to make up for Kara's miserable performance in the first round, but at least they didn't come in dead last.

* * *

When they were settled into their hotel room later that night, the door between their room and Alex's parents room closed against noise, Alex cuffed Kara over the head.

"It's not my fault I don't know things!"

"That's no reason to use your powers to cheat!" Alex said. "Tony is a jerk, but that's no reason to do _that_. Mom's right, it was only a stupid game!"

"You were mad I was sucking!"

"Better to lose a game than someone figure out how you won!" Alex said. "Remember what your cousin said about people wanting to hurt you? Mom and Dad said you have to be careful, remember?"

"No one knew! Not even Jeremiah and Eliza."

"Cheating is wrong! Even if you don't get caught! Especially when it's such a huge risk! Don't do it again!"

"Sorry," Kara said. "I was just trying not to be a freak."

Alex rolled her eyes. "So you used your alien powers to stop people from figuring out you were an alien? How is that a good plan?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"If you're going to take a risk that dumb, at least do it for a good cause--like Superman does. I bet _he_ never used his x-ray vision to cheat at a dumb guessing game."

Kara hung her head, her cheeks growing hot.

"Don't do it again," Alex said. "Even if you didn't have to worry about getting caught, it's _wrong_."

"OK, I won't do it again. Promise." Kara shuffled her feet.

"I can't believe you managed to see through to the other side and not all the way through to my skeleton," Alex said.

"I haven't been able to do that before."

Alex narrowed her eyes. "You've tried?"

"I have trouble keeping track of which issues I have at the comic book store; I keep trying to read the first page of the bagged comics."

Alex rolled her eyes, kicked off her shoes and flopped down onto the bed. "If you really wanted to stop being a freak, you wouldn't read those things."

"Says the person who gave me a clue about Peggy Carter."

"You don't even buy the ones about your cousin."

"Have you read those? He's like, a bodybuilder and stupid and..."

Alex grinned at her. "Maybe there's a reason for that."

Kara grabbed a pillow and threw it at her, 1/4 strength, just to be safe. Alex caught it and whacked Kara with it.

Kara grabbed the other pillow from her bed, whacking back, giggling.

"Girls, get ready for bed," Eliza called through the door.

"Yes, Mom."

"Yes, Eliza."

"First shower!" Kara called.

Alex rolled her eyes and flopped back on the bed. "Whatever. Freak."

Kara stuck out her tongue. "You love me anyway."

"Lucky for you."


	5. Chapter 5

Kara emerged from the comic book store to find Alex chatting with a couple of boys who she didn't recognize; they were wearing varsity jackets, so they must've been a little older than Alex.

Even weirder, Alex was twirling her hair while she talked to them. Kara wondered if she'd accidentally taken an exit from the comic book store that opened into an alternate universe.

Kara walked up to them, standing next to her foster sister. "Hey."

"Oh!" Alex jumped.

Kara was surprised, Alex was usually hyper aware of their surroundings when they were together.

"Kara, this is Matt and Steve," Alex said, pointing at the two boys in turn. "Guys, this is my sister Kara."

Kara's stomach took flight. No "tag along," no pause like the words "the freak" had been left off. Just sister.

"Hi," Kara said, shyly. What was she supposed to say to them that wouldn't mess things up? Alex was clearly excited to talk to them for some strange reason.

"What do you have there?" Matt asked.

He had blue eyes, brown hair, and broke the eye contact he'd been maintaining with Alex long enough to take in Kara and the bag she was carrying.

"Spider-Man and Black Widow," Kara replied.

"Excellent choices," Matt said.

Steve checked his watch. "Matt, we should get going or we're going to miss the beginning of the movie."

"It was nice meeting you, Kara. See you in school, Alex." Matt said.

"Bye, girls," Steve added, as they walked off.

Kara followed Alex in the other direction, toward where they were meeting Eliza. Alex kept looking back over their shoulder.

Once they were a block apart, Alex threw an arm around Kara's shoulders, and leaned into her ear. "Can you hear what they're saying?"

Kara's jaw dropped. Great Rao! Alex was actually asking her to use her powers? In public no less? After all of the times she'd freaked out.

Well, no one could tell what she was hearing, and it wasn't like there was anyone around to eavesdrop--unless she and Kal-El--Clark--weren't the only Kryptonians on Earth.

Kara took a deep breath, exhaled, reaching out with her hearing, specifically drawing her attention behind her, to the boys fading away from them.

"Why didn't I just ask her to the dance?" Matt whined.

"She was babysitting," Steve said.

Kara wrinkled her nose.

"What?"

Kara waved her hand, she couldn't hear the boys if Alex was asking her what she heard.

"I was probably cramping your style a bit anyway. That and her geeky freak of a little sister," Steve said.

"I'm not going to date her sister," Matt said. "Besides, she's not a freak, she has excellent taste in comics. Quit being such a judgmental jerk."

"Well?" Alex said.

"Steve thinks I'm a geeky freak," Kara frowned.

Alex started down the street, towards the boys. "Do I need to beat up both of them or just Steve? What did Matt say?"

Kara grabbed her arm. "Don't beat up either of them; how would you explain how you knew? And you call me a freak all the time."

"Yes, but you're my freak!"

"Matt already said that Steve was being a judgmental jerk. Oh, he also said that I have good taste in comics."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good, I don't have to beat up the guy I have a crush on. That would be awkward. Not that he'll ever go for me."

Kara frowned. She should probably tell Alex that other thing but... "Steve is a judgmental jerk."

"Yes, he is, but I'm not going to be dating Steve."

That was a good point. Kara giggled. "Funny, that's the other thing Matt said when Steve made fun of me--that he wasn't going to be dating me."

"I would hope not!" Alex said.

OK, OK. Kara should probably tell her. "Matt did, however, say that he wanted to ask you to the dance, but that he'd chickened out."

Alex pumped her fist into the air. "Yes!" She paused for a minute. "I wonder why Matt puts up with that jerk, though?"

Kara shrugged. "You'll have to ask him on your date."

Alex blushed.

Kara remembered something she'd heard in school, a grin slowly creeping over her face. She started skipping down the street. "Matt and Alex sitting in the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G..."

Alex rushed to her side, clapping a hand over Kara's mouth. "Shh! He'll hear you!"

Kara ducked away from the hand. "Only if he had my hearing!" She wriggled out of Alex's grip (carefully, half strength only, don't break your sister, Kara) and then started skipping again. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage!"

Alex sighed. "Who taught you that?"

Kara grinned. "I'm sworn to secrecy."

"At least they taught you the nicer version," Alex muttered.

Kara whirled to face her. "There's a not-nice version?"

"I didn't say anything," Alex walked briskly down the street.

Kara quickened her pace to catch up. "Alex, you have to teach me!"

Alex ran the rest of the way down the street, only stopping when she met her mother.

Kara pulled level about thirty seconds later. "You're lucky we're in public and I couldn't run full out."

Alex stuck out her tongue.

Kara huffed. "Last time I help you out."

"Help her out with what?" Eliza asked.

"Nothing," the girls chorused innocently.


End file.
